Taurus Revolvers. Good? Bad? Ugly?

Bought one of those 7 round light weight 38 specials, forget the exact model. Paid a little over $400 sold it for $200. I bought it for what I thought was revolver reliability. Piece if crap. Would jam after the first one or two shots. I have a Glock 19, less moving parts, more rounds and easier to clear a jam.

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U serious? I'd be curious to know who makes a 7 round revolver in .38 ........

For the OP.....S&W model 442. The Ruger SP101 or their LCR, good guns and simple to carry.

How you carry it, where on your body you carry it, what kinda holster ya use are also a big part of it......if a gun ain't comfortable to carry you won't carry it..

......the 442 has a totally concealed hammer, some other makes have a spur less hammer, some have a hammer like everyone is familiar with .......it's all personal preference.

I would not carry a Taurus. Stick with the brands cops use with an exception to Ruger. Good guns, I just never seen a PD issue them lately to their guys.

I carry the 442 everyday along with an HKS brand speed loader...or my Kahr PM9.....and a Glock 22 40hrs. a week....

The new Springfield Armory XDs with the single stack 45 is coming on strong now too, lotsa guys like them.....

Bought one of those 7 round light weight 38 specials, forget the exact model. Paid a little over $400 sold it for $200. I bought it for what I thought was revolver reliability. Piece if crap. Would jam after the first one or two shots. I have a Glock 19, less moving parts, more rounds and easier to clear a jam.

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I'm sorry, but I find it difficult to take someone seriously, or at least to take their recommendation seriously, when they aren't specifying just what is 'crap.'

The 19 is a good pistol no doubt, but I gave up on CCW'ing mine for its size and bulk. But I'm not a fat ass, and I live in a place that is usually hot enough that I'm not wearing anything beyond a t-shirt / Hawaiian shirt, and shorts. Big guys and layered people can hide the blocks that the rest of us can't.

I think that in this day and age it is very hard for a total crap gun to go out the door of a mfg. I do agree that there are times with every product this or that is adjusted here or there...but I think in this business the products are actually so alike that service and customer perception is all that really seperates them.

I am lucky enough to get to play with a great deal of different types of guns....while I don't own them and have a day-in-day-out living with them so I don't know how many do over the long haul, but in the short sessions I get to spend with them most do what they are built to do.

But in the end I would say buy what you feel confortable with, both in carry and in shooting....and if possible SHOOT THE THING FIRST if you are slight of build like me it does not take much to make something go past the area of that is ok to shoot to FUCK THAT HURT....and if it hurts you will not practice with it....and if you don't practice with it you have ZERO business in having it on your person. That is why I carry a pretty small gun, well it is a bigger gun that is heavy by todays standards, but shoots a pretty small bullet.....but I also know that I spend a few hours every week (if the weather permits) putting live rounds down range, I also practice the draw, fire, clear with snap caps in the gun...that specific gun. I think the choice to carry is not one to be taken lightly....it is also not something that everyone can do.

The .44 Mag Taurus I owned had the best trigger action of any revolver I have ever shot, and I have shot most brands, Colt, S&W, etc.

The .357 Mag I currently own is okay, but it came from the factory with less than 0.001" cylinder/barrel gap. This meant that after fifty shots the cylinder locked up because of powder residue. From what I have read this kind of QA error is typical of Taurus handguns; they make a decent to good design, they use quality materials, but sometimes they let some problems through - including a number of people reporting cylinder gaps being too small.

They have a lifetime warranty, but my opinion is that when I wanted a revolver for personal defense, I went to a S&W (my 329PD) - I felt the quality was better. Also, since this is a .44 Mag, I wanted something that would shoot the heavier bear loads with a longer COL - which all of the lightweight titanium Taurus revolvers could not handle because the cylinder wasn't long enough.

From what I've heard, the spacing is tight on a lot of these...and that has me a bit apprehensive, hence the question. If I'm going to be carrying, I want to know that it's going to go bang every time I pull the trigger.

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Wife bought one before taking her concealed carry class.
The cylinder stuck a few times with it, no matter the ammo it would hang up.

It may have had 200 rounds thru it at this point, it was sent back for repair.
Since we got it back it hasn't done it anymore, but I didn't trust it after that and bought her a Ruger LCR.

She also sent it back to get the trigger pull lightened, gun was away 6 weeks and came back the same.
Said they didn't have the parts for it, but they would call when they got them :huh

Doesn't surprise me. I work for one of the big car manufacturers in the world (no names as all that ever causes is a giant pissing match). We can't get production parts a lot of times. Custom parts? that is a joke. Go in the back room with some epoxy, duct tape and bailing wire. After all that and show a severe need we might get a little help and get a crappy custom part made. I am not surprised at all when a company doesn't have custom parts in stock. they were proably getting frustrated as there supplier and finally shipped the gun back to you instead of waiting for a part that a supplier may never deliver.

About 5 years ago is when inventory of products and parts went away. Can't spend money to let it sit on a shelf as inventory in hopes someone will someday buy it. Now manufacturing has gone to make it when ordered. Springs are not something that a gun manufacturer usually makes, they buy them from a spring supplier, who get wire from a wire supplier, who gets there metal from a foundery. If anything in the supply chain goes bad everything stops. Then you need enough volume demand to justify bringing the supply chain back up to speed. Generally it is more of a global problem.

What I thought would be a simple thing turned into something that they couldn't do.
Dealer contacted manufacturer, told them the issue, was told no problem we will fix it for no charge.

Sent away and came back the same.

If I would have known that, I could have just taken it to a gunsmith.
But after more thought about the cylinder hanging, and the fact that it is a carry gun I figured we would go with something more reliable.

The Ruger

Great little gun, much lighter trigger pull and no cylinder hang up.
Get what you pay for and all that stuff.